Edited: I totally misread "disinclined to follow" as following. Edited now.

The lake was a terrifying sight, and despite Clifford's expertise could potentially help to determine its threat, he stayed behind, letting braver expeditioners go first. As soon as he heard a cracking branch, however, he regretted his decision. Instinctively, Clifford reached for his wand but stopped mid-action. His magic was of no help now.

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The following 2 users Like Clifford Goyle I's post:2 users Like Clifford Goyle I's post
   Aldous Crouch, Frederick Townsend

Miriam Trelawney Frederick Townsend Kentigern MacFusty Mason Skeeter Clifford Goyle Thaddeus Davies Maeve Connolly Benedict Sterling

The fog quickly moves to shadow Mr. Townsend and Miss Trelawney from view. They may find the substance in the lake to be of some familiarity to Trelawney...

Out of the fog steps a man. Or, at least, what was once a man: there is a wound to his chest that suggests he has not been living for a long time. He has tan skin, no shirt, linen trousers. He holds a blade in his hand.

"You're looking for Her," he says.

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The next 'prompt' post will be after either 48 hours have passed from the time of posting (1:00 AM EST on July 10th*) or after every member of the party has posted one time if this occurs before that deadline. Please remember that you must post within 72 hours to continue participating. :)
If you didn't post last round, please note that you must post by 2:00 PM EST on July 8th to continue participation.
*hopefully not exactly because i gotta sleep

  

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Are your characters stuck in the smalltalk loop?
Does your imagination feel like it just can't perform as it used to?
Mid-thread crisis getting you down?
Unable to get that post up?
Is your relationship suffering because of your inability to satisfy your partner?
SUFFER NO MORE!
With a little intervention from The Suggestionizer your RP life could be back on track in no time!

--> Click here for more details <--

Known side-effects include: chronic ridiculousness, immense satisfaction, itching, uncontrollable laughter, burning, deep regret, despair, shock, horror, incidental dismemberment, joy, and death. Use at your own risk!

Well, who would have thought that it would be her and Freddie against the world. Meer spared him a glance that was almost grateful as they approached the bank. With trepidation, she plucked up a stick and - at somewhat of a loss - jabbed it into the water. Some of the substance clung to the branch and Miriam brought it closer to her face, gave it a sniff only to find a convenient coppery smell.

"It's blood," she said, dropping the stick to the ground. In a panic, Miriam reached to grab onto her brother-in-law's arm. "Shite. The water's becoming blood, Freddie."

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Blood. Freddie hadn't been expecting that. He paled slightly at her declaration, then leaned forward and peered at the lake's surface as if to compare it with his mental image of what he supposed a lake of blood might look like.

He didn't have a clever, cheerful quip for this scenario. Or, rather, he probably did--he'd been thinking only a moment ago about the biblical plagues, and some half-formed joke about being relieved he and Sarah had no firstborn occurred to him--but he didn't have the strength to pretend to be blaze about this. He'd seen plenty of gore in his time as a crime and politics reporter, but nothing that really equated to a lake made of blood.

He held Miriam's arm and said nothing; it was enough of a struggle to keep his breakfast down.

  

The auror emitted a noise that was midway between an ugh and a moan, but she remained with the bulk of the group—the sane bulk of the group. The readhead was prevented from muttering something uncomplimentary, however, when the fog rose to block their missing companions from view entirely, and instead what came out was an entirely audible, “Shit.”

(If anyone took offence to her unladylike speech, they could bring it up after surviving this ordeal).

She almost repeated the expletive when what appeared to be a damned corpse emerged from the fog. Instinctively, Maeve took a step back away from it, looking to Sterling for the first time with fear in her eyes. Then it spoke, and a talking corpse proved to be even more unsettling than a moving corpse, and the big (figuratively), brave auror found herself wishing very, very much that she had stayed home.

“Her and him,” she answered tentatively, voice wavering ever so slightly.

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— #PrettiesByMJ —

As Mr. Townsend and Miss Trelawney faded from view, Mason grew increasingly uneasy. Miss Connolly's evaluation of staying together struck a chord with Mason and he thought her correct. It was too late to follow however as they were enveloped by the fog and disappeared from view.

That was the least of their concerns however, as something or rather someone? emerged from the woods, revealing the source of the loud crack they'd heard earlier. Mason shuddered and automatically grabbed his knife from the side of his pack. It was there for plants, not for people, but without a wand, what else did they have for weapons? He wasn't any good with it as far as defense went, but it was large enough to prove some kind of useful, or so he hoped.

"How do you mean?" Mason wasn't sure they were looking for a person, were they? Was one single person the cause of this crazy fog? He seriously doubted that it was referring to the two from their group who had just vanished into the fog.

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The other two were quickly blocked from view as they went to investigate the lake. He didn't have much time to dwell on that when someone came out of the fog. It was unlike anything Tiger had ever seen before. A walking corpse. Tiger had borrowed one of Tor's swords for this and he unsheathed it now though he had no idea how helpful it would be against something that apparently did not stay dead.

  

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Thaddeus gripped his wand tighter on reflex, a comfort mechanism even though it was useless. The fog was unsettling, but nothing prepared him for the appearance of the corpse. It was like Mary Shelley's Creature come to life, and he felt an ice cold shock of fear race down his spine. He paled considerably, terrified and uncertain of what to do; thankfully Mason piped up with the question that needed answering, because Thaddeus was finding it awfully hard to form logical sentences at this very moment.

The following 1 user Likes Thaddeus Davies's post:1 user Likes Thaddeus Davies's post
   Maeve Connolly

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Avatar courtesy of Bree! <3

"I think," Meer said, after a beat during which her view of the world re-balanced upon its axis. "We should rejoin the others."

If they didn't stop this fog, the town of Irvingly was going to die. It seemed inevitable. Because whatever had caused this was serious; it had not killed anyone yet, that Meer knew, but she rather suspected that it was just building up to it.

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The breaker of the branch stepped forward and was now visible to all expeditioners who stayed. In his medical practice Clifford sad seen a lot of injuries (mostly creature-induced) and he could tell one thing for sure now - this man clearly had wounds incompatible with life. With such sudden changes to human mortality, not only Clifford's magic but also his medical knowledge could be of little use.

The man asked, the Auror replied. Clifford could make sense of neither the question nor the reply, but Miss Connolly seemed to know what she was saying (he ignored the girl's wavering voice, he just wanted to think she had everything under control).

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Miriam Trelawney Frederick Townsend Kentigern MacFusty Mason Skeeter Clifford Goyle Thaddeus Davies Maeve Connolly

The group's members may become aware that they are missing Mr. Sterling, who was, previously, the rear. Did they lose him in the woods? A fall, or something else - ?

"You've disturbed her," the man-corpse says, "She's very upset." The way he speaks about her uses a very specific tone - fear, and awe, and resentment.

"I'll tell you where to go," he says, "If you make a trade."

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The next 'prompt' post will be after either 48 hours have passed from the time of posting (3:00 PM EST on July 12th*) or after every member of the party has posted one time if this occurs before that deadline. Please remember that you must post within 72 hours to continue participating. :)

The following 2 users Like The Suggestionizer's post:2 users Like The Suggestionizer's post
   Aldous Crouch, Azazel

---

Are your characters stuck in the smalltalk loop?
Does your imagination feel like it just can't perform as it used to?
Mid-thread crisis getting you down?
Unable to get that post up?
Is your relationship suffering because of your inability to satisfy your partner?
SUFFER NO MORE!
With a little intervention from The Suggestionizer your RP life could be back on track in no time!

--> Click here for more details <--

Known side-effects include: chronic ridiculousness, immense satisfaction, itching, uncontrollable laughter, burning, deep regret, despair, shock, horror, incidental dismemberment, joy, and death. Use at your own risk!

They certainly weren't going to be able to do anything about the lake, so Freddie nodded in agreement to Miriam's proposal that they go back to the main group. He was a little surprised, to be honest, that the larger group hadn't come to catch up with them first. What were they doing, just standing about picking their noses in the fog?

To be quite fair, the only motivation he had for doing anything apparently more productive was that he wanted to get his hands on that prize money the Ministry was offering, and even so, his initiative was rather limited.

The following 1 user Likes Frederick Townsend's post:1 user Likes Frederick Townsend's post
   Mason Skeeter

Mason glanced among his teammates surreptitiously, eyeing everybody individually, only to find they were in fact missing somebody. Mr. Sterling had been just at the back there... Nervously he tried to make eye contact with Miss Connolly but hadn't any idea what may have happened to the other auror among their ranks. At least Mr. MacFusty has a broadsword in his possession; Mas hoped like hell the giant knew how to actually wield it.

"A trade, for what?" Mason was not one to consider himself a brave man, but he felt the need to move this process along as quickly as possible. He flashed a look Thaddeus, wondering if his friend, the scholar among them, had any idea of where this could be going. He was also curious to know where their two wanderers had made it off to or discovered. Merlin forbid they'd run into any extra trouble.

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The following 1 user Likes Mason Skeeter's post:1 user Likes Mason Skeeter's post
   Maeve Connolly

Tiger could make no sense of this. Who had they disturbed? "And who is 'her'?" Tiger asked after Mr. Skeeter asked what the apparition meant by a trade. This was all very strange and he realized that Sterling was nowhere to be found. Had he decided to go the lake with the others? He was quite certain the auror had been behind him only moments ago.

  

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It was all so confusing! Creatures did not speak; let alone display emotions such as fear and awe! Perhaps if Thaddeus had not been in the middle of magical fog and utterly defenseless (and the Creature was not so menacing) he might have liked to study it. He fumbled in his jacket pocket for his notepad and pencil to scribble down a few notes: Creature - once human, now dead (wizard?) and Who is She?

He flashed an encouraging smile at Mason -- look how brave he was being! Thaddeus would have to commend him on it later. The familiar itch for knowledge was back again; when presented with an improbable situation, the scholar in Thaddeus wanted to pick and pick at the parts in an attempt to fully know it. It was this drive that caused him to clear his throat to ensure his voice did not crack and pipe up.

"Do you work for the lady, then? Did she... bring you back?" It was his own delicate way of asking if the lady had brought the corpse back from death; it probably was important to know if this lady was magical, otherworldly, or both.

The following 1 user Likes Thaddeus Davies's post:1 user Likes Thaddeus Davies's post
   Maeve Connolly

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Avatar courtesy of Bree! <3

Clearly the…thing was not talking about Trelawney and Townsend. She looked to Sterling for reassurance, only to realize with a start that he was no longer present. This was not good.

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— #PrettiesByMJ —